The UK government has accused airlines of failing to prepare for the surge in passenger demand, as press reports highlight delays and cancellations across the country. Deputy prime minster Dominic Raab told Sky News that carriers had not undertaken the preparation for the rebound in activity, laying the blame for problems firmly at their door. "Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has been talking to the industry for months now saying this will come and that you need to make sure that you have your recruitment in place," says Raab. "I don’t think the airline operators have done the recruitment that they should have done and taken the advice that the transport secretary gave them." Shapps has demanded a meeting with airline bosses about the disruption, Sky reports, commenting that "despite government warnings, operators seriously oversold flights and holidays relative to their capacity to deliver". He adds: "Where the industry has asked us to make changes to help them meet demand we have done so – for example, changing the law to speed up bringing in newly recruited staff." The aviation industry itself has been warning of a summer of problems for months, as staff levels, much depleted during the Covid crisis, ramp back up – although often at a slower pace than passenger numbers. A tight labour market means that many airline and airport staff have left the industry altogether, having secured better pay rates in other areas of the economy. Delays receiving security clearance for staff has further contributed to problems, as have high sickness rates from Covid-19. Notably, airports body ACI Europe warned last month of the "impossibility" of scaling up staffing in order to accommodate the expected jump in passenger levels. For their part, airlines say that the majority of flights are taking place across the UK and Europe as planned. TUI, which has come in for particular criticism because of problems at Manchester, announced that it would be cancelling 43 services per day through June, or around a quarter of its flights at the airport, reflecting its lack of operational capacity. "We can reassure our customers that the remainder of our flying programme is expected to operate as planned." Other airlines pre-emptively cancelled services earlier in the summer, with British Airways-owner IAG announcing on 6 May that it had axed around 10% of its services from Heathrow this summer, in anticipation of disruption at the facility. EasyJet, which likewise has come in for press criticism of its performance, said in April that it was aware of staffing issues, centred around high absence rates, but that it expected these would be resolved in time for the summer. It subsequently announced plans to reduce seat numbers on some aircraft to enable them to fly with fewer crew.

Iberia has conducted its first biofuel-powered flight using an Airbus A330-200, in collaboration with Spanish energy and petrochemical company Repsol, on the inaugural Madrid-Washington route. The biofuel used to operate the twin-engine aircraft was produced from waste at the Repsol Group refinery Petronor in Bilbao, the IAG-owned Spanish airline says. Iberia will operate a second biofuel flight on the Madrid-San Francisco route, which is being reinstated on 1 June, while the third will be its inaugural flight from Madrid to Dallas. The two routes will be operated using Iberia's A330-200 fleet, it adds. In the future, Iberia and Repsol will operate new flights with a growing percentage of biofuel mix that can reach up to 50%. "This initiative is part of the collaboration agreement towards more sustainable mobility signed by Repsol and Iberia last July and is in line with the sustainable development goals promoted by the UN through the 2030 agenda," the airline states. The strategic agreement also includes a roadmap for the promotion of SAF in the coming years. Repsol and Iberia plan to operate with synthetic SAF produced at the Petronor plant, in 2024.

Two UK unions representing British Airways check-in staff at London Heathrow airport are balloting members over peak-season strike action in a dispute over pay. Trade union Unite will hold a vote on industrial action with around 500 members from 7 to 27 June, with strikes expected to follow during July, should they vote in favour. GMB is also balloting check-in staff about strike action with a similar timeframe. Many of BA's Heathrow staff took pay cuts through the pandemic as revenues dried up, but they are now angry that this has not been reinstated, especially given that management pay has been returned to pre-pandemic levels, says Unite. General secretary Sharon Graham continues that this "disgraceful" action treats its members like a "second-class workforce", adding: "Our members are rightly furious and ready to take action. A strike by our members will make an immediate impact on the service to customers so I urge BA to get a grip and restore these workers’ pay immediately." Unite is further consulting with a separate group of BA check-in staff over pay, which, if it passes, could progress to a vote on full industrial action. British Airways responds that the majority of its staff had accepted a one-off lump sum amounting to 10% of their salary, but this had been rejected by check-in staff. It notes that with the ballot affecting less than half of Heathrow's customer service team, contingency plans are in place to ensure continued operations. Airlines have found themselves in a difficult position in recent months regarding staffing. Having shed many positions through the pandemic, they are now trying to recruit into a strong labour market which is hindering their ability to staff up. Meanwhile Covid-related absences have also impacted operations. This, combined with a rush of passengers desperate for their first break in years, plus staffing problems at airports and elsewhere, has already led to significant delays and numerous cancellations in Europe, the UK and US. At its results presentation earlier this month, BA-parent IAG revealed that it would cancel roughly 60 flights per day at Heathrow, or 10% of its total at the hub, until October reflecting a lack of operational capacity. It attributed this mainly to a deliberate attempt by the airport to under-resource itself, in order to restrict passenger numbers and back up its case for higher airline fees.